Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Kitchen Cabinet Refinishing
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petes1505
03-15-09, 01:27 PM
Hello All!
I'm getting ready to redo my kitchen and the biggest obstacle I have is how to redo the kitchen cabinets. They are all solid wood and in excellent structural condition, so I see no reason to buy new ones. I'm trying to go from the existing color to a darker stain...something in the color range of cherry wood. The problem is the finish is just worn. They are wood stained with a finish that I'm assuming is varnish. But, the surface of the cabinet doors is grooved and routed with designs, so sanding is not a real option. I tried using a stripper (CitrusStrip Stripping Gel), but again because of the non-flat surface trying to remove the gel from all of the grooves is a real task that takes a large amount of time and additional chemicals. So, I'm stuck and was looking for any suggestions or ideas. You can <a target="_blank" href="http://dfwads.net/images/cabinet1.jpg">click here</a> to view a picture of one of the cabinets so you have an idea of what I'm working with. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks everyone!
I'm getting ready to redo my kitchen and the biggest obstacle I have is how to redo the kitchen cabinets. They are all solid wood and in excellent structural condition, so I see no reason to buy new ones. I'm trying to go from the existing color to a darker stain...something in the color range of cherry wood. The problem is the finish is just worn. They are wood stained with a finish that I'm assuming is varnish. But, the surface of the cabinet doors is grooved and routed with designs, so sanding is not a real option. I tried using a stripper (CitrusStrip Stripping Gel), but again because of the non-flat surface trying to remove the gel from all of the grooves is a real task that takes a large amount of time and additional chemicals. So, I'm stuck and was looking for any suggestions or ideas. You can <a target="_blank" href="http://dfwads.net/images/cabinet1.jpg">click here</a> to view a picture of one of the cabinets so you have an idea of what I'm working with. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks everyone!
marksr
03-15-09, 03:21 PM
Welcome to the forums!
To strip them you will need to sand and scrape [stripper will help] Different shaped blades will help remove the finish in the different grooves. You can only restain if the wood is raw/bare. Another option would be to apply a tinted poly like minwax's polyshades. Special care must be taken to apply a tinted poly. Runs, drips, lap marks, etc will all have more tint and will show noticably darker.
To strip them you will need to sand and scrape [stripper will help] Different shaped blades will help remove the finish in the different grooves. You can only restain if the wood is raw/bare. Another option would be to apply a tinted poly like minwax's polyshades. Special care must be taken to apply a tinted poly. Runs, drips, lap marks, etc will all have more tint and will show noticably darker.
petes1505
03-15-09, 03:54 PM
Marksr,
Thank you for the feedback. Sanding and scraping would take months. I have more than 20 doors and about a dozen drawers. What about vat dipping? In your opinion would that be a viable option? If so, any idea where I would begin to look for a company that does that sort of thing?
Best regards,
Pete
Thank you for the feedback. Sanding and scraping would take months. I have more than 20 doors and about a dozen drawers. What about vat dipping? In your opinion would that be a viable option? If so, any idea where I would begin to look for a company that does that sort of thing?
Best regards,
Pete
marksr
03-16-09, 04:18 AM
I don't know much about the dipping process other than what I've seen on TV. You might look in the yellow pages under furniture refinishing - if nothing else you might talk to one of them to find out what they know.